Note from Catherine Kim, executive vice president of editorial; Chris Berend, chief digital officer of NBCU News Group; and John Lapinski, director of elections for the NBC News Decision Desk:
All,
We’re pleased to announce that Liz Johnstone is joining NBC News as Director for Data and Elections Experiences.
Liz comes to us from The New York Times, where she most recently served as News Director for Politics. There, she directed daily coverage, key enterprise stories and helped lead some of the biggest storylines thus far this year. She also helped develop new approaches to breaking news and video storytelling.
Before that, as many of you know, Liz served as Managing Editor for Politics for NBC News Digital, leading coverage in 2020, 2022, and more. She helped set digital traffic records with innovative live-blog strategies and partnered with the Decision Desk and product teams to revamp election results pages that drew millions.
In this new role, Liz will lead the strategic and editorial development of cross-platform journalism driven by our data and Decision Desk teams in close partnership with leaders across the newsroom. Audiences are hungrier than ever for clear, compelling numbers, data and visuals — grounded in rigorous reporting and brought to life with sharp analysis. Nowhere is that more apparent than in an election year, when millions rely on NBC News and its Decision Desk to understand the state of the race from a multitude of sources and angles. We see that audience interest with the Decision Desk’s election analyses, including early voter deep cuts, exit polling and expanded online polling capabilities, and with projects like Digital’s Home Buyer Index and the Health unit’s Vaccine Divide.
Liz will build on these successes by partnering closely with the Decision Desk, Steve Kornacki and Marc Greenstein’s production teams, and the News Group’s product, design, and technology teams to further strengthen our elections and polling coverage. She will work to unlock and connect our data storytelling opportunities by collaborating across platforms, editorial units, investigations and creative teams. Liz will also partner with the News Group’s AI organization to explore responsible, innovative applications of generative AI for the broader newsroom.
Liz will be based at 30 Rock and starts on Monday, September 29. Please join us in welcoming her back to NBC News.
